Miranda Liebscher

For millennia humans have outsourced the most demanding and joyless tasks of their lives to unsuspecting animals. Nearby beasts have pulled heavy things, found buried truffles/body-parts and provided us with full-time in-residence emotional-therapy; often with no pay or little recognition.

I propose to leverage the methodology of outsourcing for the development of this project. I will follow my spirit animal: Toxoplasma Gondii, the parasite my cats use to control my mind. I will co-opt the labour of the closest and most accessible animals around me: my classmates, friends and internet strangers. I will exploit their efforts to answer the question: “Why listen to animals?”

Animals have skills and attributes that we [humans] lack; strength of horses, exceptional noses of dogs, fluffiness of cats etc. We often co-opt these assets to our advantage.

In a similar way, I will approach those who have the skills/time/intelligence that I lack in order to produce the work. I aim to use already formed relationships as well as forming new relationships to co-opt labour without remuneration. I can however, offer to feed participants for their efforts.

The work will take the form of video + sound. To produce the artefact I will employ the methodology of the pyramid scheme where I will be at the top doing, essentially, nothing.

Documentation